Lord Adonis is calling for Liberal Demoprats in marginal seats to vote Labour to stop the Tories winning seats.

 

Isn't this pretty much an admission from a senior minister that New Labour will lose the election and that they will prostitute themselves to anybody to cling on to power?

One of the clearest indicators of the shambolic state of our economy is the now record price of petrol and diesel.

 

The reason for this is essentially the collapse in value of the £ against the US $ (and to some extent the Governments need to keep increasing the tax burden of fuel).

 

For once we can't really blame profiteering fuel companies or OPEC for being ripped off every time we fill up.

 

The last time fuel cost this much the cost of a barrel of oil was about $147 - it is currently $85.

 

This is a very stark illustration, in a way that should resonate with every voter, of the problems with our economy.

 

The AA has said that the best chance of fuel prices falling is for the £ to strengthen.

 

This is true but there is also the fact that as the world economy starts to recover and demand for oil increases then the cost per barrel will inevitably go up.

 

So even if the £ does strengthen fuel costs are likely to remain very high - great news.

 

It's also noteworthy that over the last year the number of cars on the road has fallen (first time since the late 1940's) and additionally that fuel sales in the UK between January and March have also fallen year on year.

 

Not entirely sure that these are signs of a recovering economy...........

 

Of course we also have 2 further scheduled increases in fuel tax to look forward to - Mr Darlings farewell present to every motorist!

 

Perhaps the answer is:

 

 

The nominations for candidates in this years Broxbourne Local Government Elections closed at 12:00 today.

 

There are 45 candidates, who represent 4 political parties, contesting the 13 wards.

 

Further details may be seen by clicking here.

 

Some initial thoughts:

 

(1) This is the largest number of candidates (9) that the Liberal Democrats have fielded in more than a decade.

 

(2) I am quite surprised that the BNP have only found candidates for 10 wards after they managed to field a "full slate" in the 2008 Council Election.

 

(3) It's perhaps less of a surprise is that the very vocal Hoddesdon Open Air Pool / Action for Hoddesdon campaign groups have failed to find any candidates.

 

(4) This is the largest number of candidates in a Broxbourne election since 1999 when the whole council (38 seats) was contested following ward boundary changes.

 

(5) It's curious to see the Seeby brothers (Paul & Ian) in direct competition in Flamstead End Ward - is this a cunning plan by the BNP?

 

Campaigning is now well underway and we will know the results sometime on Friday 7th May.

 

The count for the Council Election isn't happening overnight this year - the General Election count is taking place immediately after the polls close at 10pm on the 6th May.

 

Council Election candidates will have to wait until (probably) early afternoon on the 7th before they know their result.

............the pre election "phoney war" is over and the campaigning will start in earnest later today.

 

As widely predicted 6th May will be the General (&Local) Election date and finally the British people will have the opportunity to condemn this contemptible socialist government to the dust bin of history.

OK, Chris Grayling dropped a clanger the other night when speaking about gay couples staying in B&B's.

 

Although I'm not a legal expert, it occurs to me that Grayling was making a fundamental error in making a distinction between hotels and B&B's.

 

My view is that if people enter into a commercial arrangement to offer accommodation to paying guests then the nature of the accommodation (hotel, motel, B&B etc) or the religious principles of the premises owner is irrelevant.

 

Everybody, irrespective of their race, religion, sexual orientation etc should be welcomed by anybody offering accommodation to paying guests.

 

If we don't have this approach then we may be back into the days of:

 

 

 

Having listened to the "secret recording" of Grayling, I thought he was trying to use very careful language and was clearly aware that the subject was politically sensitive - and in my view he got his facts muddled.

 

What I have thought to be totally over the top has been:

 

(1) Socialist and Liberal Demoprat attempts to seize on this issue as somehow reflecting on the whole of the Tory party. This is only to be expected at election time but the bo***cks that Chris Huhne and Ben Bradshaw were spouting yesterday was just infantile.

 

To somehow suggest that Graylings faux pas indicated that "the Conservative Party hadn't changed on this and many other issues" really is utter drivel.

 

(2) The BBC coverage. For the last 2 nights the BBC radio news has led on the story and Stephen Nolan, on Radio 5, has devoted a huge amount of time (on his otherwise excellent) programme to it.

 

I just don't see where this story was important enough to justify the amount of air time the BBC gave it.

 

Perish the thought, but one might almost suspect the BBC of having its own agenda to attack the Tories!!

 

However, in a couple of days this story will be pretty much forgotten - it isn't an electoral issue in any real sense and the world of politics will have moved on.

 

I do wonder though if Mr Grayling has damaged his own chances of becoming Home Secretary in a future Cameron government?